


The Lord of the Forest

by ProfessorESP



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 18:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3906436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorESP/pseuds/ProfessorESP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The Kirin leaned back and bared its teeth once again. “Then I will spare your life on these terms: that on the day of your wedding you open the gates for me as an old friend, that you set for me a place at the banquet as if I was a guest of honor, that following the day of your wedding you leave your uncle’s lands to serve me for three years; and that all this you tell no one but the princess who is to be your wife.”</i> </p><p>The story of a prince, a princess, and a magical beast; a fairy tale in three parts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Guest of Honor

Once upon a time, there lived a great king named Xephos who had no children. For many years he had considered his nephew, a young prince known as Will Strife, as his heir, but he was still uncertain. And so the day came that King Xephos called Will forth to give him a quest.

“Go forth into the twilight forest on the edge of the kingdom and kill the great Beast that lives there. Bring me back his head and I shall make you my heir.” So the king commanded, and so Will set out to do; he donned his armor, mounted his horse, and with his fiancee watching from the gates he rode out towards the twilight forest.

He was not far past the line of trees when Will spotted a small, pale fox running alongside the path. It slowed when he slowed, and ran when he ran, and finally Will stopped and dismounted to speak with it.

“Sirdame Fox, you have been following me now since I passed the edge of the forest,” Will said with a frown. “I am no fool. What do you want from me?”

“Why, nothing at all,” the fox said. “But I am curious as to why you came. Most humans who enter the forest come to hunt or gather wood, but you are dressed for war.”

“I am on a quest for my uncle the king,” Will told it. “He has asked me to travel to the depths of the forest and kill the great Beast that lives there.”

“The Kirin? Oh no, you must not, for you will surely die.”

“I must. I will not abandon my quest for the sake of an animal, whether it speaks or not. My honor is at stake.”

"Then at least heed my advice noble prince. The Kirin’s great strength will surely defeat you, but it is not swift. If you charge and take it by surprise you shall surely defeat it.”

With the fox’s words in mind, Will rode off deeper into the forest. He was an expert tracker, and was soon able to track the Kirin into a small clearing. Remembering the fox’s advice, Will drew his sword and charged. The Kirin was too fast for him. It pinned him with one of its huge paws on each shoulder and breathed its hot breath onto Will’s face, its lips curling in displeasure, showing its sharp teeth.

“Who are you, human, and why have you come here?” it growled.

“I- I was sent on a quest by my uncle the king- spare my life and I promise he will reward you!”

“I have no need for the wealth of mortal kings. Give me one good reason to spare you.”

“Please, I’m engaged to be married soon.”

The Kirin paused. “Married?”

“Yes. To Princess Nanosounds of Flux Keep. We- we’ve been friends since we were children.”

The Kirin leaned back, hiding its teeth once again. “Then I will spare you on these terms: that on the day of your wedding you open the gates for me as an old friend, that you set for me a place at the banquet as if I was a guest of honor, that following the day of your wedding you leave your uncle’s lands to serve me for three years; and that all this you tell no one but the princess who is to be your wife.”

“All this will be done, I swear it.” So the Kirin lifted its paws from Will’s shoulders and released him. Will ran out of the forest without stopping or looking back until he reached the edge of the trees. Then he walked back to his uncle’s kingdom. He faced his uncle’s disappointment with silence, claiming only that he was unable to find the great Beast of the twilight forest. Afterwards, he found Princess Nanosounds and spoke with her alone, explaining what had transpired.

When he finished, she swatted him on the head. “I told you I should have gone along,” she said, chastising him.

“I needed to prove myself a worthy ruler,” Will protested.

“Wouldn’t I have been ruling beside you?” Nano sighed. “What’s done is done. But I won’t let you go off alone into the Kirin’s service. If you go, I go with you.”

So decided, they spent their time gathering the things they thought they would need while in the Kirin’s service, until the day of the wedding arrived.

When the Kirin came to the castle the doors were shut, and inside it could hear the sound of the church bells ringing. “Have you forgotten the promise you made to me?” it roared, loud enough to be heard in the chapel. Will was struck with fear and refused to move, but Nano ordered a servant to open the front gates and lead the creature they found there to the chapel. The Kirin sat on the bride’s side of the church, and the guests assumed that some relative of Nano’s had come late to the service; it was widely known that there were a great many cursed and animal like people in Flux Keep, and Nano said nothing to persuade them otherwise.

After the ceremony the guests were led into the banquet hall, and when the Kirin saw that no place had been set at the high table for it, it turned to the bride and groom. “Have you forgotten the promise you made to me?” it roared. Will turned to run in fear, but Nano wrapped her arms around him and held him in place. She sent two servants to set a place for the Kirin at the high table on her right side, and while it said nothing during the feast it ate as much as ten men.

When the Kirin had eaten its fill it left without saying a word, and with it left the tense spell it had placed over the guests. Within the hour the feast was roaring with laughter and song, everyone from the royals to the servants making merry and toasting the new marriage. By the time the bride and groom retreated to their chambers it was well past midnight, and by the time they finally fell asleep it was later still.

Dawn came and went, and the couple still slept in their beds. They nearly slept the morning away, but a vision of the Kirin came to Will in his dreams. “Have you forgotten the promise you made to me?” it roared, and pounced on him. Will woke with a start, causing Nano to stir. He told her about his dream and tried to persuade her to stay in bed, but she wouldn’t be convinced. She dressed herself and made Will dress too, and the two of them took the small bag of clothing and supplies they had gathered and left the castle.

When they reached the edge of the Twilight Forest, Will stopped and turned to face Nano. “You can still turn back,” he said, and she laughed and kissed his cheek.

“You are my husband,” she said. “For better or for worse, I’m sticking with you.”

And so they went into the forest together.


	2. The Master of the Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every day when Nano went out to gather plants from the forest garden, the Kirin stopped her at the door. “Do not trust the animals of this forest,” it told her, “for although they can speak they are not likely to tell the truth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No comment.

The Kirin met them in the first clearing past the tree line. Nano and Will stepped forward, bundles on their backs and hands intertwined.

“I have come to fulfill my promise,” Will said. “And my wife has come to accompany me.”

The Kirin nodded and bowed his head to Nano. “I would expect nothing less. You must care for your husband very much.”

“I do,” she said. Will squeezed her hand. “He told me about his promise.”

“Yes,” the Kirin said. “I thought he might. You are under no obligation to serve me, Princess, but it will make your time with me easier for the both of you. My home is in the center of the forest, in a ruin that none can find nor enter without my permission. Climb on my back and I will take you there.”

The two of them climbed on the Kirin’s back, Will holding fast to its antlers and Nano holding fast to him. Each of the Kirin’s steps was twice the stride of a horse, and the forest passed by them in a blur of motion. When the Kirin finally slowed enough for Nano and Will too see, they had reached a large clearing in which a small castle stood. It was clear no one had cared for it in a long while; the metal of the gate was rusted, the stones were covered with vines, and the small garden outside was overgrown with weeds.

As the Kirin approached, the gate swung open to let it in. The inside of the castle walls looked much the same as the outside. Vines and moss grew everywhere Will and Nano looked, and the glass of the windows was clouded with dust. The Kirin stopped and crouched, letting its passengers slide down into the loose dirt of the courtyard. It pushed open the castle door and beckoned for Will and Nano to follow. Inside was dark and dusty. Nano and Will had to hold their cloaks over their mouths to keep from breathing in the dust.

“Your first task,” the Kirin said, “is to clean the foyer of the castle. All the tools you will need shall be by the stairs. Seek me out when you finish and I will give you your next task.”

It bounded up the stairs, its paws kicking up huge clouds of dust.

“This is hopeless,” Will complained. “It’ll take all day to finish this.”

“Well, then we’d better get started.” Nano pulled her hair back with a sigh and started to sweep. As soon as the broom touched the floor, all the dust around her flew into the air and landed in a pile at her feet.

Nano looked up at Will, both of them wide eyed.

“Go get the other broom,” she said, and Will ran.

Every chore seemed to do itself; a touch of the broom had all the dirt flying out the front door; a single run of the duster had the furniture shiny and new; one swipe of a rag had the windows clean and sparkling.

They finished quickly and went upstairs to find Kirin lying in the great chamber. There was a large rug laid out between the furniture and the doors to the interior rooms, and the Kirin was sitting on top basking in the sun like a great cat.

“You finished early,” it said, blinking at them slowly. “I thought you might. My second task for you is to clean the great chamber. When you are finished, come find me and I will give you your next task.”

It rose, yawning, and walked through the largest of the three doors into the interior rooms, which closed behind it.

The second task was as easy as the first. One shake had the rugs clean and fresh; one touch of a mop had the floors sparkling new; one sweep of the fireplace had the ashes piled neatly in the tray. Will and Nano finished in no time and went to meet the Kirin.

It was sleeping on the floor of the master bedroom, rolled on its back like a dog. When Will and  Nano came in it shook itself awake.

“You finished early,” it said. “I thought you might. Your last task of the day is to clean the bedrooms. When you finish, the rest of the day is yours to do what you wish.”

The third task seemed the easiest of all. The beds made themselves with a touch; the tapestries shook themselves clean with only a single beating; the basins scrubbed themselves down with only a handful of water. Soon enough, both bedrooms were clean as could be.

Will and Nano entered the great chamber to find the Kirin lying in the sun again. It blinked at them sleepily and yawned, showing off its large, wolfish teeth.

“You finished early. I thought you might. Please sleep in the smaller of the bedrooms; it is meant for the lady of the house, and of no use to me since I cannot fit the door. The master bedroom is mine, and of no concern to you, since I cannot fit through the adjoining door either.”

Will and Nano spent the rest of the day playing chess in the great chamber as the Kirin watched sleepily from the floor. When sundown came, it retired to its bedroom, and after all the light had faded from the sky Will and Nano followed suit.

They blew out their candles and a huge draft swept through the castle, extinguishing every light. Will fell asleep quickly; Nano was not quite as tired, but found herself following soon after him. When she was close to dreaming she thought she felt something like the mattress tipping, but the next morning there was no one but her and Will, so she dismissed it as nothing.

They woke to find breakfast waiting in their room for them. After eating and dressing, they went downstairs and found the Kirin waiting in the foyer to show them to the library. It was even dustier than the foyer had been, but the work was as easy as the day before. Covers flew off of the furniture; rugs coughed up dirt and grime; books shook the age off their spines. The Kirin waited for them in the great hall, stretched out on the dias. It yawned and stood, sending up a cloud of dust that made their eyes water.

“You know what to do,” it said, and left them to work.

They beat the tapestries, wiped the tables down, and mopped the stone floor with little effort. When they finished, they took a moment to sit down on the dias and talk.

“I don’t see why the Kirin couldn’t do all this work himself,” Nano said. “It’s not difficult; we barely have to try at all.”

“Sometimes the simplest explanation is the easiest.” Will held his hands up and wiggled his fingers. “No thumbs.”

She laughed and dragged him out of the hall and back upstairs, where the Kirin waited for them beside the guest bedrooms. They walked right past it and finished cleaning quickly, finding it as easy as their work in the master bedrooms the day before. The rest of the day they spent in the library curled up in a corner, Will dozing quietly while Nano lay her head on his shoulder and the Kirin lay its head upon her lap.

He fell asleep quickly that night, but she lay awake, thinking about the Kirin and the years of service ahead of them. She was beginning to drift off when she felt the mattress dip and heard someone else settle into the bed. She tensed, but the stranger made no move other than to tug on the covers. Before long, exhaustion overtook her fear and she fell asleep.

In the morning, the stranger was gone. She mentioned it to Will during breakfast, but he was as clueless as she.

“Surely if there was another person in the castle we would know,” he said.

“That’s what I thought,” she replied. “But I’m certain last night was not a dream.”

“Well, let us go ask the Kirin.”

They found it in the courtyard, lying with its paws tucked over one another, like a human crossing their legs. It listened to her story seriously, and when she finished it chuffed.

“I cannot explain what you experienced last night,” it said, “and I will not do you the indignity of dismissing it as a dream. But I promise this: there is no living soul in this castle save for you, your husband, and me, and while you are in my service no one with the means or the intent to do you harm can make their way into this castle.”

Nano was content with that, and though Will was uncertain he knew that the Kirin spoke the truth. So with their worries settled, they went to work.

The third day of work was the longest. The kitchen floors were scrubbed; the chimney stove was swept; the counters were scoured. The larder was cleaned; the spiderwebs broken; the food restocked. The courtyard dirt was stamped down; the gates were oiled; the weeds were pulled. At the day’s end, the three of them sat in the courtyard and watched the sunset. Nano and Will leaned against the Kirin’s side, backs pressed into its fur.

That night, Will and Nano did their best to keep each other awake. When they felt the tilt of the mattress, he grabbed her hand. She thought of everything the Kirin had said, of the two nights the stranger spent peacefully in their bed, and the added warmth of a third body. She squeezed his hand and reached for the other side of the bed.

As time passed, Will and Nano fell into a comfortable routine. In the mornings, they would go through their work. Will went and attended to cleaning and repairs needed in the castle. The Kirin shed fur like a dog in summer and Nano never took her boots off at the door, so he always had plenty to do. Nano worked on her garden just outside the castle walls. The plants grew and replenished themselves daily, but so did the weeds, so she was always picking or pulling something.

Their afternoons were spent in leisure, playing games or reading, often in the presence of the Kirin. They grew fond of its company, to the point that it was not _really_ afternoon unless all three of them were together.

They spent their nights with the stranger. Their hesitation and fear of their unseen bedmate had long since vanished. Their companion was trusted and familiar, even though their meetings were silent and confined to the dark.

Several months passed this way, and Will and Nano grew comfortable with their new lives. They thought of the castle as home, and felt more at ease here than they had at Will’s Uncle’s court.

One evening the Kirin stopped them before they went to bed.

“I will not be in the castle tomorrow,” it said, “nor the two days after that. There is business in the forest that must have my full attention, and I will not return until far after dusk.”

They were saddened at the thought of losing their companion for so long a time, but they made no protests. The Kirin had its own business each morning that they knew nothing of, and if it believed it was needed elsewhere during the day they had no place to argue.

They said their goodbyes to it the next morning in the courtyard. Will pressed a kiss between its horns and Nano kissed its muzzle, just above its nose. It rubbed its mane against their necks and puffed hot breath over their faces. Then it ran through the gates and into the forest. They watched it go, holding each other’s hands tightly, but soon they separated. Will went back into the castle and Nano went outside into her garden.

She was still picking the newly ripened fruits when she saw a flash of pale fur pass between the plants.

“I have no intention to do you any harm,” she said, placing her hands on her hips, “but if you dig in my garden or steal my crops I will not be so charitable.”

With a raspy laugh, a fox stepped through the rows of plants and sat next to her, its tail curling around its body. It cocked its head at her, blue eyes shining with intelligence.

“Such strong words for a servant girl,” the fox said. “But you need not worry. There is nothing in your garden at interests me.”

“Then be gone. I have work to do here, and I don’t care for anyone who gets their paws underfoot.” She turned away from the fox, back to her work, but it twined itself around her legs.

“I’m curious, is all. I so rarely see humans in the forest, especially as deep as this. And you work in the shadow of the great beast’s castle! Surely you must be frightened of it?”

“The Kirin? It’s intimidating to be sure, and my husband was badly frightened of it at the start, but during the months we’ve spent here it has been nothing but kind and gentle. I can find no faults with it or its treatment of us.”

“No life is so perfect. Surely there must be something amiss. Something that makes you doubt.”

“No, nothing. Not even if it were to kill the forest creatures that distracted me from my work.”

The fox, able to take a hint, ran back into the forest and let Nano work in peace for the rest of the morning. Alone with her thoughts, she began to wonder if her husband felt the same as she did. When they met after noon, she asked him if he had any doubts or worries about living with the Kirin in its castle.

“No, not at all,” Will said. “Why do you ask?”

“No particular reason,” she replied.

It wasn’t until their silent companion rolled into bed after dark that Nano realized the cause of her uncertainty.

The fox appeared again in her garden the next day. It sat on the edge of the rows, well out of her way, and watched her work, not saying a word. It was almost noon by the time Nano worked up the courage to speak to it.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said, and the fox’s ears perked up eagerly. “There is one thing that I find somewhat strange.”

“Oh?” the fox asked. “Do tell.”

She explained about her and Will’s night time companion, and of how the Kirin was unable to explain who they were. The fox nodded gravely as she spoke, and when she finished it said, “Well. Well, well, well. How odd, to let a stranger sleep in your bed. Have you never tried to look at them?”

“Oh, even if I had it would be impossible,” Nano said. “They always vanish before sunrise, and they only appear after we’ve blown out the candles.”

“Then the solution is simple. You must simply wait for them and your husband to fall asleep, and then light a candle.”

During lunch, Nano asked Will if he knew where to find any matches. He frowned, thinking hard. “I’m not sure,” he said, finally. “I’m not certain I’ve ever seen any. I’ve certainly never used one, since the fireplaces and the candles all light themselves.” They looked all over the castle, but found no firestarters at all, not even a piece of flint to use as a striker.

That night, Nano slept on the far side of the bed, and it took quite a while for her to fall asleep. The sounds of Will and their companion’s quiet breathing kept her awake late into the night.

The next morning, the fox came by again, and she explained what had happened. “How odd!” it cried. “Not to worry, I know exactly the thing you need!” It ran off into the forest, leaving Nano to her work.

It was nearly noon by the time it reappeared, just managing to catch her before she went inside for lunch. It was carrying something in its mouth, and when it came to a stop it lay a fire striker down next to her feet.

“There!” it cried. “Now we shall see who that mysterious guest of yours is.”

Nano kept the fire striker in her pocket all through dinner and well into the afternoon. She almost told Will about it as they dressed for bed, but at the last second she changed her mind. He was complacent enough here that he would ask her to put the striker away and leave things as they were, but that wasn’t something she could do. Curiosity had consumed her.

Nano kept herself awake, listening carefully to the sound of Will and their companion’s breathing. When it leveled out and she was certain they were both asleep, she lit a candle and leaned over the bed. Laying next to her husband was a tall, broad human with wild and untamed hair. She leaned a little closer and lost her balance. The candle wavered, and a piece of hot wax fell onto their chest. Their eyes snapped open, and their gasp of pain was loud enough to wake Will next to her.

“You fool,” they shouted, and though their words were angry their tone was almost mournful. “If you’d only waited until you and your husband’s service was finished, I would have been freed from the fox witch’s curse and restored to my human form. But now my lands and powers are forfeit, and I will be trapped forever in their castle, which is east of the sun and west of the moon.”

Nano reached out, Will following only a moment behind her, but before they could reach, a great, white light blinded them. When they opened their eyes once more, the Kirin’s great castle had vanished, and they stood on the edge of the twilight forest, wearing the same clothes as the day they had first entered his service.

Will spun to face Nano, his expression furious. “What did you _do?”_ he demanded, his arms thrown into the air. Nano broke into tears and told him everything in between her sobs. When she finished her tale, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

“It’s not your fault,” he said, stroking her back. “I wish that you had told me, but you were not the only one involved.”

“The fox,” Nano sniffed. Will nodded.

“The fox goaded you into worry, and then it gave you the fire striker. None of this would have happened if not for it.”

“It knew,” Nano said, pushing Will away slightly to look up at him. “It knew this would happen. Our stranger--the Kirin--said they would be held prisoner in the fox’s castle. It wanted us to force the curse so it could take the Kirin’s power for itself.”

“But how could we ever find them again? They said the castle lay east of the sun and west of the moon, but a place such as that can’t truly exist.”

“Not without magic,” Nano said, finally beginning to hope. “But I know just who we can ask for help.”


End file.
